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WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



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BY 



ALICE DUER MILLER 

AUTHOR OF "AEE WOMEk PEOPLE?" 




NEW YORK 

GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 






COPYRIGHT, 1917, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



-y'r^ 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



3 1917 



'CI,A4 5743 



T^-'i 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Treacherous Texts 9 

Our Friends ....... 39 

Our Friends the Enemy K . , .61 
UnauthorizedTnterviews . . • .87 



To the New York Tribune, in whose generous columns 
many of these verses first appeared, the author here 
wishes to express her gratitude. 



TREACHEROUS TEXTS 



Women Are People ! 

"The basis of our political systems is 
the right of the people to make and to 
alter their constitutions of government." — 
George Washington: Farewell Address. 

"The people's government, made for the 
people, made by the people, and answerable 
to the people." — Daniel Webster: Second 
Speech on Foofs Amendment. 

"When we say: 'We, the people, do or- 
dain and establish, etc.,' it is not an un- 
meaning flourish. The expression declares 
in a practical manner the principles of this 
Constitution. It is ordained and established 
by the people themselves." — Judge Wilson, 
in the Pennsylvania convention to consider 
the Constitution of the United States. 



[vij 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



Advice to Rebels 

("American woinen will win the vote, because their 
campaign has been polite, dignified and tactful.") 

When the Barons faced King John 
They were civil as could be, 

Doffed the crowns they all had on, — 
They were well, they said, and he? 

Thus their liberty was won, 
Pretty manners set them free. 

When the Commons killed the King, 
Their behaviour was the same. 

"Yes," they said, to draw the sting, 
"Really, sire, it's a shame!" 

For they knew the slightest thing 
Rough or rude would lose the game. 
[ 9 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

Washington was most polite 

To the British long ago, 
Said he fancied he was right, 

But of course one couldn't know. 
Had he tried to sulk or fight. 

They'd have thought him simply low. 

These examples, ladies all. 
Should control your every act. 

Never argue, nor recall 
Any crude, unwelcome fact. 

Revolutions rise and fall 
By the rebels' social tact. 



[ 10 J 



TREACHEROUS TEXTS 



The Selfish Creatures 

("In this age of discontent, hundreds of thousands 
of girls, who have no necessity to support themselves, 
leave home in order to win pin money." — Anti-suf- 
frage leaflet. Apply to G. D. M., Albany.) 

I STOPPED to ask a scrub-woman : 

"Why labour like a man? 
You cannot feed your children? Well, 

There must be some one can." 
She said: "I merely work because 

I need a feather fan." 

I went to a steam laundry, 
And asked with smile polite : 

"Ladies, why will you work so late?" 
They said : "We think it right 

To buy our opera cloaks ourselves. 
And so we work at night." 

Observe how nagging women are: 

Their work is just a feint 
To make Man feel inadequate. 

And selfish — ^which he ain't. 
True womanhood would rather starve, 

And starve without complaint! 
[ II ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



To Chivalry 

("I wonder if fanatical feminists, male and female, 
ever stop to ask themselves what will happen when the 
romance of sex is forgotten, or lost sight of, in the 
furious struggle between men and women which uni- 
versal suffrage is sure to bring." — The Phoenix.) 

Chivalry, I don't abuse you, 

Not at all — the only rub 
Is that those who praise you, use you 

Very often as a club. 

As a club or stick of candy, 
As a punishment or prize. 

Finding you extremely handy 
When they want to sermonise. 

Chivalry, they say you'll linger 
Only where the girls obey; 

Where they show the smallest ginger 
Instantly you fly away. 

Many a stern, relentless Anti 
Threatens us poor suffragettes 

As a mother tells how Santy 
Naughty children quite forgets. 

[ 12 ] 



TREACHEROUS TEXTS 

Yet in spite of all their talking, 
In a day dream, in a trance. 

Every day I see you walking 
Arm in arm with old romance. 



[ 13 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

Every Age 

"Oh," cried the old men, 

"The times are full of danger, 
And chivalry is dying, 

Its funeral knell has rung; 
Love to these young men 

Is utterly a stranger, 
Love, that was so fine a thing 

When you and I were young." 

"Yes," said the women, 

"The girls have now no mystery, 
No modesty to beckon, 

No graces to be sung; 
This will be called 

The darkest age in history, 
That killed love, the true love 

We loved when we were young." 

The young men and maidens, 

With pity in their glances, 
They looked upon their elders. 

And, oh, their hearts were wrung! 
"How sweet, but how unreal 

Were all their old romances. 
For true love is our love, 

While you and I are young!" 
[ 14] 



TREACHEROUS TEXTS 



The Demise of Chivalry 

("Would it not be a little more just to state that 
for her taxes this woman receives police protection, fire 
protection . , . pure food inspection, and ash and gar- 
bage removed?" — Letter of president of the Hudson 
River Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage.) 

The courteous policeman on my beat 
Who always helps me cross the crowded 

street, 
Had I the ballot — as I understand — 
Would throw me underneath the horses* 

feet. 

The garbage man, whose wise, efficient plan 
Is daily to remove my garbage can, 
Would pass me by, all coldness and 
neglect, 
If he should catch me roting like a man. 

But one there is who will not change, I 

know. 
However far astray we women go, 
Who questions not of woman's sphere or 
charm — 
The tax collector never answers no. 
[ 15 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



The Code 

("We women are not supposed to be humorous, I 
know." — Anti-suffrage speech.) 

Ladies, true to the tradition 

Of the ivy and the oak, 
Never make the dark admission 

That you see a joke! 

Laugh and smile, for that's beguiling, 

If the teeth are good; 
But not knowing why you're smiling — 

That's true womanhood. 

Humour must remain a stranger 
To the loving female mind, 

If we would avoid all danger 
Of a thought unkind. 

Chivalry would go to Hades 

Very, very quickly then. 
Men may laugh at us poor ladies; 

We must not at men. 

[ i6] 



TREACHEROUS TEXTS 



Liberty 

(A distinguished opponent has been converted to 
the principles of woman suffrage. Under the title 
"Personal Liberty" he writes in Case and Comment: 
"American freedom is the child of American democ- 
racy. It involves equal rights and equal duties. . . . 
The state on the one hand should refrain scrupulously 
from giving to any individual or association advan- 
tages which are denied to others. All should be on 
an equal plane of opportunity as far as the law can 
give it.") 

O Liberty, how many men there are 

Who do you honour in a flowing phrase, 

In martial measures and in patriot lays. 

Invoking you as goddess and as star; 

Though fire and cruelty and bloodshed mar 

Your pathways, every deed of yours they 

praise 
So they were done in long forgotten days. 
Or rumoured in strange lands, unknown and 

far; 
But when you first approach them, when 
you turn 
On their pale eyes your eyes' unwavering 
light, 

[ 17 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

When they perceive you — enemy to 
peace 
And easy comfort, dangerous and stern, 
They fly before you, crying in their 
fright: 
"Arrest this wild-eyed jade! Police! 
Police!" 



C 18 ] 



TREACHEROUS TEXTS 



On the Recent Good News from 
Kansas 

("The State of Kansas is out of debt." — Press clip- 
ping.) 

Kansas is out of debt! 
Oh, when the anti-speaker, stern and tense. 
Declares that woman has no business sense^ 
Describes the wild taxation we shall pay, 
When woman, flighty woman, has her way, 
Paints the financial smashes. 
The failures and crashes 
That must ensue when woman takes a hand 
In governing the land ; 
Don't be annoyed; just smile and say: 
"But yet 

Kansas is out of debt." 

Kansas is out of debt, — 
Kansas where women vote ; whereas to date 
New York, the proud, the rich, the Empire 

State, 
With its magnificently male finance. 
And business interests that have looked 
askance 

[ 19 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

On women taking any part 
In matters other than the heart, 
New York has not, from recent information, 
Met every obligation; 
New York, which prudently will only let 
The sex of business experts vote. And yet 
New York's not out of debt! 



[ 20 3 



TREACHEROUS TEXTS 



Protect the Shrine 

(Mr. Webb, of North Carolina, recently voted 
against a bill to restrict child labour. But he said in 
his anti-suffrage speech : "The most sacred and poten- 
tial spot on earth is the fireside shrine, and over this 
shrine the devoted mother presides, the uncrowned 
queen.") 

Oh, home is a shrine for a mother, it may be, 
But a shrine is no place for a promising 

baby. 
Small children are fond of disturbance and 

riot, 
But a shrine should be sacred and lonely 

and quiet. 

CHORUS 

O, come all ye factory owners, combine; 
Though the world misinterpret your 

noble design, 
Keep children away from a spot so 

divine. 
So potential and pure as the fireside 

shrine. 

O woman, O mother, we lore and respect 
you, 

[ 21 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

As queen and as goddess we long to pro- 
tect you, 
And how can we give you a pleasanter day 
Than by keeping your dear little children 
away? 

CHORUS 

O, come all ye factory owners, combine; 
Protecting the home is your own special 

line, 
Since childhood is boist'rous, we firmly 

decline 
To permit it to trouble the fireside shrine. 



C 22 ] 



TREACHEROUS TEXTS 



Botheration 

("Why do you come here and bother us?" — Chair- 
man fVebbj at the suffrage hearing in Washington.) 

Girls, girls, the worst has happened; 

Our cause is at its ebb. 
How could you go and do it! 

YouVe bothered Mr. Webb! 
You came and asked for freedom, 

(As law does not forbid) 
Not thinking it might bother him, 

And yet, it seems, it did. 

Oh, can it be, my sisters. 

My sisters can it be. 
You did not think of Mr. Webb 

When asking to be free? 
You did not put his comfort 

Before your cause ? How strange ! 
But now you know the way he feels 

I hope we'll have a change. 

Send word to far Australia 

And let New Zealand know, 
And Oregon and Sweden, 

[ 23 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

Finland and Idaho; 
Make all the nations grasp it, 

From Sitka to El Teh, 
We never mention suffrage now; 

It bothers Mr. Webb! 



[ 24 ] 



TREACHEROUS TEXTS 

The Spell 

("The debutantes are entertained." — Headline.) 

The debutantes are entertained, 
Though Europe sink in smoke and blood 
And every hope of womanhood 

Is there endangered, twisted, stained — 

The debutantes are entertained. 

The debutantes are entertained, 
Though many women young as they 
In this free country day by day 
Are underfed and overstrained — 
The debutantes are entertained. 

O, lovely creatures, young and kind, 
How long, how long ere you rebel 
Against this tyranny, this spell 
That dims the mirror of your mind 
And keeps you debutantes — and blind! 



I 25 J 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



The Scallops' Campaign Song 

("That great constructive piece of legislation, the 
Thompson bill, defining an 'adult' scallop, passed the 
Senate to-day without one dissenting vote." — Evening 
Post, April IS, 191 6.) 

Oh, sister scallops, rejoice, 

Tyranny ends at last; 
Without a dissenting voice, 

The scallop bill has passed! 

Never again in the briny 

Waters near shore 
Shall a scallop, timid and tiny, 

Tremble as heretofore — 
Tremble and start and wake 
To the sound of scoop and rake. 
The terrible means men take 

Now nevermore, nevermore. 

In a quiet, scalloplike manner 

We worked for our bill; 
Never a ball or banner. 

Nor nagging, nor talk, until 
The Senate, wholly at leisure, ■ 
[ 26 ] 



TREACHEROUS TEXTS 

Made it their pride and pleasure 
To pass the scallops' measure — ■ 
The better scallops' will. 

Then perished party passion 
When it was understood 

That scallops, in good old fashion, 
Were not too clever for food. 

For the power of scallops is much; 

And men will yield at a touch 

Of scallops acting as such, 
True to their scallophood. 



[27] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



Is It Like This in Brooklyn? 

("Instinctively we think of woman as a creature to 
be coddled, and not to be excited emotionally." — 
Editorial, Brooklyn Eagle.) 

I THINK my cook a creature to be coddled, 
To my laundress I know just the things 
to say, 
And my bearing to my scrubwoman is 
modelled 
On the bedside manner of a better day. 
To the women in my factory I mention 
What divine and fragile flowers women 
are. 
And my constant intervention spares my 
typist nervous tension, 
And my switchboard girl has never 
known a jar. 



I 28 ] 



TREACHEROUS TEXTS 



Poor Things 

("They are for holding their notions though all 
men be against them, but I am for religion in what, 
and so far as, the times and my safety will bear it. 
They are for Religion when in rags and contempt; 
but I am for him when he walks in silver slippers in 
the sunshine and with applause." — "Pilgrirns Prog' 
ress.") 

Oh, alas, for all the women 
Who are converts to our cause, 

But who wait for silver slippers, 
And for sunshine and applause. 

Oh, alas, for all the people 
Who can feel and reason straight, 

But who always get in action 
Just a little bit too late. 

Just too late to make their gesture 
Something splendid and sincere, 

Just too late because it's patent 
That the victory is here. 

Oh, alas, for those who forfeit 
What can never come again — 

The delight of having struggled, 
In contempt and in the rain. 

[ 29 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



The Safest Place 

("No woman in the state has been insulted, beaten, 
choked or murdered at the polls. Since the vote has 
been bestowed on the women of Illinois all these things 
have happened to women in their own homes." — 
Rheta Childe Dorr, in The New York Evening Mail.) 

Go out to the polls, my Mary, 

For a girl is safer there i 

Than she is in any place on earth. 

But if you stay home, beware! 
It's dangerous up on a ladder, 

Dangerous lighting a stove; 
When Aunt was hanging the clothesline out 

Five stories down she dove. 

It's a risky place, my Mary, 

Though both of us hold it dear; 
But more women die at home, you know, 

Than an5rwhere else each year. 
So don't stay home, my darling. 

Get used to your vote in youth; 
For no one ever heard of a girl 

Who died in the polling booth. 

[ 30 ] 



TREACHEROUS TEXTS 



On the Woman's Account 

("The National Bank values the woman's 

account. True, a woman ordinarily has not at her 
command and disposition funds in the amount cus- 
tomarily handled by a man, but the aggregate of a 
number of women's accounts is useful to a bank. . . . 

"The National Bank maintains a separate 

department for women's accounts,^ with a maid in 
attendance, and a businesslike but courteous service." 
—Adv.) 

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It's a proud day, my sisters, 

For all the female clans; 
A bank will take our money, 

As if it were a man's! 
In a pioneering spirit 

They'll accept it, — cash or checks, 
Our timid, trifling money. 

Money of the weaker sex. 

Our gold seems just as golden,— 
Or so these flatterers say — 

Our ounce of silver weighs as much 
As any man's could weigh; 

And our long, long green ones, 
[ 31 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

* And our crisp, crisp yellows, 
Are just about as valuable 
As any other fellow's. 

Oh, happy days, my sisters. 

Oh, give these bankers thanks, 
Who for our sake will even take 

Our money in their banks; 
Nor are they cross about it; 

They neither scratch nor strike; 
They take it in a manner, 

"Courteous, but businesslike." 

jSl £l&. 2Ll i^ Jld Jl& 

y^ 'Tj^ V^ 7^ "^ ^ 



[ 32 ] 



TREACHEROUS TEXTS 



The Indirect Influence 

("The travelling men of New York are asking for 
legislation which will enable them to vote — that is to 
say, to enable them to register although absent from 
their residence.") 

Travelling men, what is the matter? 

Why this unrest and alarm? 
Can't you cajole, coax or flatter? 

Can't you depend on your charm? 
How can you say, even in play, 
You need a ballot to get your own way! 

Charm is what statesmen kotow to, 
Charm is their rise and their fall, 

Votes they would never allow to 
Alter their conduct at all. 

Charm is your dower; cling to that power. 

Votes is a pleasure that fades in an hour. 



[33] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



"What Is Coming'' 

("There can be no question that the behaviour of 
the great mass of women in Great Britain has not 
simply exceeded expectation but hope. And there can 
be as little doubt that the suffrage question, in spite 
of the self-advertising violence of its extravagant sec- 
tion, did contribute very materially to build up the 
confidence, the willingness to undertake responsibility 
and face hardship that has been so abundantly dis- 
played by every class of woman. ... At every sort of 
occupation they have been found efficient beyond prece- 
dent and intelligent beyond precedent. There is 
scarcely a point where women, having been given a 
chance, have not more than made good. . . . These 
women have won the vote." — From "What Is Com- 
ing ," by H. G. Wells.) 

Oh, Mr. Wells, your words sound very 

nice, 
Yet if efficiency and sacrifice 
Could win the vote for women, don't you 

know 
We should have won it many years ago? 

In every battle that was ever fought- 
In war or industry or law or thought, 
Men have received with wondering delight 

[ 34 ] 



TREACHEROUS TEXTS 

The help their women gave them in the 

fight: 
But after war there is no other debt 
That men it seems so easily forget. 
Therefore I fear the Englishman will say 
In the old scornful, ante-bellum way: 
"Women are kind and good, hardworking, 

too, 
But women, voting — that would hardly do! 
Besides they do not want the vote, one 

hears." 
And when they cry "We do!" he'll stop 

his ears. 



[35] 



OUR FRIENDS 



Inez Milholland Boissevain 

We do not talk of martyrs, no, not we 
Who daily watch the long and bloody toll 
Taken by war and industry, and see 
How common is this gallantry of soul; 
We do not talk of martyrs, we who plead 
To share the duties of a human lot. 
Who hold the faith that Truth and Honour 

lead 
Along a path where women falter not; 
We do not talk of martyrs; yet when one 
So young, so eager, and so brave departs. 
Her cause unconquered, and her task un- 
done, 
A sacred bitterness is in our hearts! 
How long must we be patient under 

wrong? 
Alas, my countrymen, how long, how 
long! 



[ 39 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



To the New Converts 

Ladies, whose conversions date 

Rather late, 
Who but now have understood 
That the cause of womanhood 
Is not alien, and unknown. 

But your own. 

Ladies, who can recollect, 

I suspect. 
That you once stood by and mocked, 
And were elegant and shocked, 
And were haughty and remote 

From the vote. 

Just because in bygone years 

Your own sneers, 
Your own clinging with such passion 
To the side you thought the fashion 
Made the work so hard to do 

For the few. 

Now, when everything is pleasant, 

As at present. 
Now that ridicule is not 

[ 40 ] 



OUR FRIENDS 



Universally our lot, 
Now that every public man 
Tries to please us all he can, 
Ladies, don't you think you owe 
More, because you were so slow? 
Just because you used to shirk, 
Get to work! 



[41 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



Fable of the Bird and the Sages 

Some Eastern prophets, elderly and sage, 
Were walking in a wood one summer day, 
When suddenly they came upon a cage 
Holding a long-winged bird of plumage 

gay; 

And, as this seemed to them a curious 

thing. 
They sat down to discuss it in a ring. 

They made their discourse under headings 

three : 
First, was the cage its natural habitat? 
Next, could it fly, if they should set it free? 
Last, would it change, then, to a mole or 
cat? 
Each had a theory, evolved or heard, 
On the essential nature of a bird. 

The argument continued many years. 
Until one day a youth came strolling by. 
To whom they told their questions and 

their fears. 
"Easy to answer them," he made reply. 

[ 42 ] 



OUR FRIENDS 



"Easy!" cried they. "How can you take 

it thus? 
How can you answer what is hid from 

us?" 

"Like this," said he, "and all your wisdom's 

store 
Would never find so clear an answer, 

friends." 
And, stepping to the cage's gilded door, 
He opened it. And there the story ends. 
The moral is : To know if birds will fly, 
The surest method is to let them try. 



[ 43 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



To 1915 

Good-bye, Old Year, you were a teacher 

stern 
In aim, and in your method most severe, 
Yet every lesson you have made us learn 
Will shape the story of the coming year; 
How those first precepts of our country's 

youth. 
Though we have heard they were an 

empty phrase. 
Are still to many men a living truth 
By which democracy must guide her ways ; 
You taught us, not our friends and foes 

alone, 
But how friends hinder, and how foes may 

aid; 
You taught us what ourselves had never 

known — 
Our strength; you taught us not to be 

afraid; 
But most you taught that freedom has a 

price, 
And comes, but comes not without sac- 
rifice. 

[ 44 ] 



OUR FRIENDS 



New Yearns Resolutions for 
Suffragists 

Let us resolve to remember: 

1. That we are working for suffrage 
because of our own convictions on the sub- 
ject, and not as a personal favour to the 
chairman of some committee. 

2. That no one else is ideally fitted to do 
the job assigned to us, so we might as well 
attend to it ourselves. 

3. That no one else will suffer any less 
in doing it than we do ; they may talk less 
about their suffering. 

4. That, as some day we shall undoubt- 
edly say: "Yes, I was one of the women 
who worked hard for suffrage," we might 
as well work hard. 

5. That it is unnecessary to be either 
apologetic or antagonistic about the cause, 
but if we must be one or the other, the 
latter is preferable. 

6. That the only way to get rest from 
suffrage work is to get suffrage. 

[ 45 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



Reflections of a Suffragist 

And Perhaps of an Anti 

If my heart sinks at thought of a campaign 

Again, 
It is not that I'm lazy, that I shirk 

Hard work. 
It is not that it makes me faint and weak 

To speak, 
Nor that I find it such a horrid plague 

To beg. 
Not that I fear the strain of being quite 

Suavely polite 
To many whom I'd so much rather smite, 

Or bite; 
It isn't even that I hate and fear 

To hear 
The "facts" of our opponents year by year; 

But, dear, oh, dear. 
It is the weary things that day by day 

I'll have to say; 
The things the voters ought to know, and 
don't, 

Or won't. 
About democracy, the home, the wife, 
[ 46 ] 



OUR FRIENDS 



The mother's life, 
Responsibility, the schools, pure food, 

And womanhood. 
That's the necessity that I deplore — 

Saying once more 
The things that every one has said before. 

My, what a bore! 



[47] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



Rules for Delegates 

When ladies in convention meet 
They must be civil, suave and sweet, 
Must all be lovely to each other 
And never say a word like "bother," 
For if one woman should be heard 
To use that short, improper word, 
It would be proof, you must admit, 
That every woman was unfit. 

When ladies in convention meet 
Their harmony must be complete; 
United they must think the same 
Of every method, date and aim. 
For if they do not all agree 
They are not ready to be free. 
You never knew a man's convention 
Distracted by the least dissension. 

When ladies in convention meet 
They must be handsome, young and neat; 
That is, if they would not forget 
The precedents that men have set; 
For men's conventions do their duty 
[ 48 ] 



OUR FRIENDS 



By calmness, harmony and beauty. 
Just wait until next June and you 
Can see if what I say is true. 

April, ipi6. 



[ 49 3 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

A Mother to Her Son 

On His Request for a Latchkey 

Why should you want a key, dearie, 

What do you want it for? 
Mother is always ready and glad 

To get up and open the door. 
If you'd a latchkey, Georgie, 

Mightn't it just destroy 
The charm of the whole relation 

Between a mother and boy? 

A woman likes her offspring 

To cling, and who can tell — 
If you could open the door yourself 

I might not love you as well. 
Waiting upon you, Georgie, 

Is such a pleasure to me, 
I shouldn't enjoy life half so much 

If you were given a key. 

You think that's rather selfish? 

Georgie, my dear, please note. 
It's word for word what you said to me 

Of giving women the vote. 

[ 50 ] 



OUR FRIENDS 



The ballot you think is different 
To giving a boy a key? 

Well, think it over again, my son, 
And see if we can't agree. 



[51 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



Her Sphere 

When wives were quite unprecedented 

In Eden, where that fruit tree grew; 
When Eve, that is, was just invented 

And even Man was rather new, 
A good idea occurred to Adam, 

A theory and a practice, too; 
*'Your sphere," he said, "will be, dear^^ 
Madam, 

To bear the blame for what I do." 



T 52 ] 



OUR FRIENDS 



A Possible Solution 

Ladies, who of course admire 

(And inspire 

Now and then,) 
Flowery phrases, words of fire, 

On the lips of public men. 
Never feel the least compunction 

For an unction 

Insincere; 
Admiration is your function. 

Blandishment your highest sphere. 
Praise us always to our faces. 

But in cases, 

I implore, 
Praise us less in public places, 
And at home a little more. 



[ 53 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



John T. May 

Into the office of John T. May 
A suffragist came on his busy day. 

"I've come to ask of you, sir," said she, 
"What may your views on suffrage be?" 

The great man scowled, as a great man 

should. 
Facing rebellious womanhood. 
"This interview," he said, "is closed. 
I am unalterably opposed." 

"At least," said she, "you'll consent to say 
Why you oppose us, Mr. May." 

The great man raised his hand in the air: 
"While sun and moon are shining there, 
While man looks up to the azure dome, 
So long will the woman's place be home.'* 

The suffragist did not blanch or blink. 
She did not tremble or start or shrink. 
She said: "Well, well, it must be confessed 
Your thought is admirably expressed, 

[ 54 ] 



OUR FRIENDS 



Forceful, coherent, and clear as day, 
But will you stand by it, Mr. May?" 

Never has printed page conveyed 

The v^onderful speech the great man made. 

He spoke of policemen and charm and 

strength. 
Of Nature's purpose he spoke at length. 
He mentioned the Pilgrims' high intent. 
Referred again to the firmament, 
To angels and mothers, and queens and 

wives. 
To the Bible, the flag and soldiers' lives, 
To pedestals, roses and Bunker Hill, 
And something he said of Jack and Jill. 
Never a book of rhetoric teaches 
So grand a speech among all the speeches. 

Grave was the look on the stranger's face, 
And she eyed her host for a minute's space. 
Then she answered: ^'I see you are quite 

sincere 
In the views you hold of woman's sphere; 
Therefore I'll tell you before I go 
Something the world will shortly know: 
This is our secret, this is our news : 
Most of us women share your views!" 
[ 55 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

The great man smiled, in a great wise way. 
"I always knew it," said John T. May. 

"Yes, home is our place," said she, "we 

know, 
Now we intend to make it so. 
Back to the home for womanhood; 
That is our motto." 

And May said: "Good!" 

Then the suffragist went on to tell 
How their league was organised very well. 
"Every girl in your factory, sir, 
Feels that home is the place for her; 
There she will go on a certain day, 

Not a wheel will turn " 

"Hold on," said May, 
"That seems to me a different case." 

"But why, if home is the woman's place? 
Your filing clerks, and your typist, too, 
Your telephone girls all think like you. 
The women teachers, thousands strong. 
Think they have left the home too long. 
The libraries will all be closed and then 
The stage will be peopled by men — just 
men. 

[ 56 ] 



OUR FRIENDS 



All the women who sell in shops, 
All the women who clean with mops, 
Cooks and housemaids will all obey 
The wonderful words of John T. May." 

Silent awhile the great man stood, 

And really thought, as a great man should ; 

Thought for the first time clearly and 

rightly 
About that phrase he had used so lightly; 
Saw, though he hadn't before conceived it. 
As a matter of fact he'd never believed it, 
Never had thought of their homes, 'twas 

true. 
If he had work for women to do. 

And his smile was sudden and shrewd and 

gay: 
"I get you, madam," said John T. May. 



[57] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

Independence Day 

A Patriotic Hymn for Girls 

Come, little girls, and let me teach 
The truths of Independence Day, 

Lest patriotic song and speech 

Should lead your little minds astray, 

Lest you should fancy you would be 

Extolled for wishing to be free. 

You've learnt whence governments derive 
Their powers — their just powers, rather; 

And how your fathers had to strive 
(But never imitate your father). 

And how we've all enjoyed since then 

Democracy — at least for men. 

Learn now that each familiar phrase 

Does not refer to such as you. 
And when you sing your country's lays 

Amend them thus, to make them true: 
"Let freedom reign" — o'er all our brothers; 
"Sweet land of liberty" — for others. 

[ 58 ] 



OUR FRIEND THE ENEMY 



Love Sonnets of an Antl-Su£fragist 



TO HIS LOVE, COMPLIMENTING HER ON HER LACK OF 

INTELLIGENCE 

Mabel, my love burns with this flame in- 
tense, 
Not for your beauty, though I find you fair, 
Not for your charming lack of common 

sense, 
Not for your ignorance, beyond compare. 
I love you, not because I think your mind 
Is empty as a flawless cup of glass. 
Not for the fascination that I find 
Hearing you talking like a perfect ass. 
No, but because with you, as in a dream, 
I seem a giant, dominant and strong. 
As in real life I very seldom seem, 
Or only after effort hard and long, 
But you admire everything I do. 
And all I say you greet with, "Oh, how 
true!" 

[ 6i ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



II 



TO HIS LOVE, COMPLIMENTING HER ON HER LACK OF 
CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY 

I PRAISE you, Mabel, that your woman's 

heart 
Is all untouched by tales of woe and crime, 
And that you have no wish to bear your 

part 
In curing any evil of the time. 
I bless you that you are so unaware 
Of infant children labouring in our mills, 
And that you really do not seem to care 
For other women's injuries and ills. 
I love you when they tell you ugly things 
Of death and poverty about your door, 
You fold your hands with all their flashing 

rings. 
Fixing on me the eyes that I adore. 
And say in accents like a silver bell: 
"What matter, Ferdinand, if you are 

welll" 



[ 62 ] 



OUR FRIEND THE ENEMY 
III 

TO HIS LOVE, SUGGESTING A CONGENIAL TOPIC 

Come, Mabel, let us spend a pleasant hour 
Telling what silly creatures women are. 
Will not that be delectable, my Flower, 
My Angel-Princess, Queen and Guiding 

Star? 
Come, let us two Olympians be gay. 
Jesting about your sex's lack of truth, 
Their cowardice, their vanity, the way 
They cling, though aged, to the garb of 

youth; 
Their mental powers, charming, but 

absurd; 
Their inability to do or plan; 
And then, my darling, you may say your 

word 
In praise of that supreme creation, Man. 
What's that you say? That not all men 

are great? 
Your thought, my Mabel, savours of sex- 
hate. 

[ 63 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



IV 



TO HIS LOVE, REPROACHING HER WITH AN 

UNKINDNESS 

0, Mabel, you have wounded me beyond 
All words — have dimmed our love's initial 

splendour; 

1, who had thought you faithful, reverent, 

fond. 
Am filled with doubts of your complete 

surrender. 
Last evening when the argent car of night 
Went up the sky with many a starry minion. 
You, without asking me if you were right, 
Expressed a clear, impersonal opinion, 
A judgment, a belief, an abstract thought; 
And though I frowned and held myself 

aloof. 
And murmured sternly: "Nothing of the 

sort," 
You did not seem to notice the reproof. 
O, Mabel, cease to think, or how can we 
Be certain we shall never disagree? 



[ 64] 



OUR FRIEND THE ENEMY 



TO HIS LOVE, SUGGESTING A MORE DISCRIMINATING 
TIMIDITY 

How sweet and womanly to me you seemed 
When first we met in that old silent house, 
And suddenly you clung to me and 

screamed,. 
Your tender heart affrighted by a mouse. 
But when to-day, afar, I saw you pass, 
Walking with one I never fancied much, 
And when you found a serpent in the grass, 
And caught his hand with that same fran- 
tic clutch. 
And did not shrink from his protecting 

arm, 
Which instantly about your shoulder stole, 
I, in my heart, exclaimed: "This is not 

charm! 
This is the merest lack of self-control!" 
O, Mabel, learn to mitigate your fear — 
At least when any other man is near! 



[ 65 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



VI 



TO HIS LOVE, EXPLAINING THE INDIRECT INFLUENCE 

A woman's highest power is to please, 
Thus does she rule the kingdom of the soul. 
Beauty, charm, grace — when Heaven gave 

her these 
It gave her Life's full, absolute control. 
All forms oi force are impotent and crude 
Compared to this, which bends us to her 

whim. 
Mabel, there is no man so vile and rude 
But woman's tender grace may tutor him. 
But now, my darling, use not any more 
This power of yours on any other men — 
Not on that sleek and handsome Senator 
To whom you talked from eight till half- 
past ten. 
Use it on me, my love, and you will find 
How hard it is to change a strong man's 
mind. 



166] 



OUR FRIEND THE ENEMY 

Impressions at a Recent Anti Meeting 

One Male Speaker. A Chorus of Lady-Antis. 

Speaker: I am cleverer than you. 
Chorus: Very true, very true. 
Speaker: I am braver, too, by far. 
Chorus: So you are, so you are. 
Speaker: I can use my mind a lot. 
Chorus: We cannot, v^e cannot. 
Speaker: Men adore your lack of mind. 
Chorus: Oh, how kind; oh, how kind I 
Speaker: You do very well without. 
Chorus : Not a doubt, not a doubt. 
Speaker: You have hardly any sense. 
Chorus : What eloquence, whateloquence ! 
Speaker: Yet your moral sense is weaker. 
Chorus: Isn't he a charming speaker! 



[67 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



The Anti Speaks 

In the subway I have never stood a minute, 
I have never clung an instant to a strap ; 
As I enter any train, each man who's in it 
Springs, like Galahad awaking from a 
nap, 
And exclaims with hat in hand: 
"I can't bear to see you stand; 

If you voted, though, I shouldn't care a 
rap." 

O you women who have never stood in 
trolleys 
(And I speak to every woman in this 
state) 
If you don't forego these wild and wicked 
follies. 
You'll be very, very sorry, but too late; 
Men, disgusted at your capers, 
Will sit still and read their papers, 
And you'll have to stand in trolleys. 
What a fate! 

For myself, my only means of locomotion 
Is my motor, which conveys me near and 
far, 

[ 68 ] 



OUR FRIEND THE ENEMY 

But I talk with men I know, and get a 
notion, 
From their logical account, just how 
things are; 
And they say if women voted 
Dreadful changes would be noted — 
Men might even let us stand up in a car! 



[ 69 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



The Happy Obstructionist 

"Oh, no, I don't approve of giving vs^omen 
the vote. 
Women," he said, "are something divine, 
apart, 
Something mysterious, precious, fair and 
remote. 
Caring for nothing but love, religion and 
art." 

*'But women are really not like that," 

said I. 
"I like to think of them so," was his 

reply. 

"I like to think of the mother, serene, at 

ease. 

Living her life in a sunny, vine-clad cot. 

Drawing her happy babies about her knees. 

Teaching them love — for that is a 

mother's lot." 

"But very few mothers can live like 

that," said I. 
"But I like to picture them thus," was 

his reply. 

[ 70] 



OUR FRIEND THE ENEMY 

"Think of the women," I said, "who suffer 
and toil, 
Of her without beauty or love, not 
mother or wife." 
"Hush, hush," he answered, "why do you 
want to spoil 
The vision, the joy, the whole romance 
of life!" 

"But truth has its own romance and 

joy," said I. 
"I like my fancies better," was his 

reply. 



I 71 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

Marriage 

(According to the New York Board of Education) 

DEDICATED TO MRS. ELIZABETH ELDREDGE 

Oh, the tragedy, the pity! 

Oh, the things that women do I 
There's a rumour in the city, 

But we hope it isn't true; 
There's a scandal has been carried, 

And the clubs are whispering 
That a teacher has been married — 

Isn't that a shocking thing? 

Marriage in our estimation 

For a man is not a. crime, 
And the Board of Education 

Will not dock his pay or time; 
But a woman is a lily; 

Marriage is not in her line; 
For an act so weak and silly 

We must ask her to resign. 

[ 72 ] 



OUR FRIEND THE ENEMY 



A Politician to the Ladies 

Please go away. I am so very tired; 

My working day is long; 
I try to do the job for which I'm hired. 

Alas! I am not strong. 

I've seen so many men to-day, requesting 

So many things to do : 
And now you come, just as I might be rest- 
ing, 

And want to see me, too. 

Ladies, I don't approve of suffrage, really 
(Though it may come at length) ; 

Women must base their hopes of progress 
merely 
On Man's heroic strength I 



I 73 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



Antis We Have Known 



An and, fair and apparently tender, 

Sat with her feet on her own brass fender; 

Safe as a human life can be 

From want and suffering, so safe was she. 

Safe by money and social position. 

By love and learning and sound tradition; 

Never a stroke of work had she done. 

Never a dollar earned or won. 

Her children in school, and her husband 

gone 
To his office, she sat by her fire alone 
With time to read the election news, 
And found it exactly met her views. 
She was glad the women had been defeated, 
That was the way they ought to be treated ; 
Glad that women who toiled all day 
Were not to be equals in any way; 
Glad that women she passed in the street 
Couldn't in any way compete; 
Glad, since wisdom and wealth and power 
Guarded her children every hour, 
[ 74 ] 



OUR FRIEND THE ENEMY 

To know that tenement mothers and wives 
Couldn't help guard their children's lives; 
Glad since everything suited her 
That other women should stay as they were. 
Which shows that being secure, apart, 
Petted and sheltered by every art. 
Doesn't develop the human heart. 

November 4, 1915. ■ 



II 



"My principal reason against it," said he, 
"Is that women don't want it, as far as I 
see." 

"O Father," his daughter exclaimed, "is 

that true? 
You know that I want it, and Mother 

does, too." 

He smiled with omniscience peculiar to 

him: 
"My darling," he said, "that is only a 

whim." 

"But it isn't a whim," she replied, "in Miss 
Hays, 

[ 75 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

Who writes all your letters. You fre- 
quently praise 

Her poise and good sense; well, she wants 
it, she says." 

"Do you think that her judgment or minei 

is the ripest?" 
He asked. "Must I learn how to vote from 

my typist?" 

"Well, then," she went on, "all the teachers 

at school 
Are for it." 

He laughed. "I have found as a rule 
That all of the unmarried women I've 

known 
Want nothing so much as a home of their 

own; 
If all of your teachers were married, you'd 

note 
A striking decrease in their wish for the 

vote." 

"Many teachers are married," she started 

to say, 
But he begged she would not contradict in 

that way. 

[ 76 ] 



OUR FRIEND THE ENEMY 

"You're growing," he said, "both aggres- 
sive and vain. 

I think v^e won't mention this subject 
again." 

That night at the club they were speaking 

of It, 
And he said that he wasn't opposed — not 

a bit 

"It is true I am voting against it," said he; 
"But the women I know do not want it, 
you see." 



I 77 1 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 



Verbatim 

"I LOVE my home," the Anti said, 
"I crave no interests in its stead. 
You think that foolish, I dare say — 
Yes — I'm peculiar, in a way, 
And so I must admit I do 
Adore my home and children, too. 
And, oh, I love my husband, though 
You suffragists w^ill sneer, I know^. 
I am not clever, and I fear 
I do not make my meaning clear, 
But what I'm trying to express 
Is this : I love my home. Confess, 
You think it very crude and silly 
To love my little tots and Billy, 
But yet I do — I think I ought — 
I wonder if you catch my thought?" 



[ 78 ] 



OUR FRIEND THE ENEMY 



Her Representative 

**I REPRESENT my wife," he said; 

"I really cannot see 
How she would profit by the vote; 

I vote for her and me. 
And men consider — Time has shown — 
Their wives' opinions like their own. 

"If my wife voted she would vote 

For many silly measures, 
Which do not add in any way 

To profits or to pleasures; 
Like Widows' Pensions, Equal Pay, 
More schools, and an eight-hour day. 

"On Woman Suffrage I vote no; 

Perhaps you had not heard 
My wife believes in that as well; 

How wicked and absurd! 
Oh, let us save domestic strife. 
And let me represent my wife!" 



[ 79 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

A Son to His Anti-Suffrage Mother 

Mother, dear mother, how could you de- 
ceive me! 
Where shall I find consolation and balm? 
"Willie," you always have taught me, "be- 
lieve me. 
Women who vote never have any charm." 

Out of the West came a beautiful stranger; 

Fast beat my heart, but I felt no alarm; 
Why should I fear an impossible danger? 

Stella had voted — she couldn't have 
charm. 

Much of my time at her side I expended, 

Trying to teach her a woman's true place. 

Sometimes she yawned, twice or thrice was 

offended. 

Once, I assure you, she laughed in my 

face. 

Stella has plighted her word to another; 

Told me the news with the cruellest calm, 
Added: "There, Willie, run home to your 
mother; 
Tell her that Cave Men are losing their 
charm." 

[ 80 ] 



OUR FRIEND THE ENEMY 



Ode 

Recollection of Anti-Suffrage Speeches 
Heard in Early Childhood 

(With apologies to W. W .) 
Admit at the beginning 

That woman is no good. 
You find that very winning? 

Ah, yes; I thought you would. 



There was a time wnen platform, stage 

and hall, 
Speeches, at least in public view, 
Did me appal; 
They were to me taboo, 
Not woman's sphere at all. 
It is not now as once it was ; I roam 
Where'er I may 
By night or day, 
To preach to Man that Woman's place is 
home. 

[ 8i ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

II 

The fashion comes and goes, 
As everybody knows; 
Feathers on a last year's hat 
Are raggedy to wear; 

The white, or lemon, spat 
Is beautiful and fair; 
Large plaids are not refined; 
It's clear to me — and you agree — 
That these are tasks enough for woman's 
mind. 

Ill 

The vote is but a fraud and a deception; 
The way to get our will, the way to win 
Is not at an election. 

But darkly, with a grin. 
Not quite without protection. 
Not in complete subjection. 
But armed with charms superlative we 
come 

To each secluded home. 
Thanks to the votes we are too good to cast. 
Thanks to the news we have not read for 

years, 
We all assume that every law that's passed 
Is due to our unshed, but potent, tears. 
[ 82 ] 



OUR FRIEND THE ENEMY 



To the Anti-Campaigners 

Antis, for Wilson so gladly campaigning, 
Amis campaigning so gaily for Hughes, 

Would you object very much to explaining 
What in the world are your views? 

You whose conviction could never be 
shaken : 

Voting incited a woman to roam; 
Do I not see you — or am I mistaken — 

Voteless, but far from the home? 

Woman's inferior, so you insisted; 

Over her faults and her failings you 
gloat. 
Haven't you got things a little bit twisted, 

Teaching these men how to vote? 

You, who have told them their wives and 
their mothers 
Had not political wisdom, you knew; 
Why should they think you more wise than 
the others? 
Why should they listen to you? 

[ 83 ] 



UNAUTHORISED 
INTERVIEWS 



An Unauthorised Interview 

Between the Suffragists and the Statue of 
Liberty 

The Suffragists 

Lady robed in light, 

At our harbour standing, 

Equal law and right 
Promising, demanding. 

Can you tell us, do you know, 

Why you treat your daughters so? 

Do not think us pert. 

Insolent or teasing, 
But you seem a flirt. 

Only bent on pleasing 
That one-half of human kind 
Who made Sister Justice blind. 

The Statue 

Be not deceived, my daughters, I'm not 

she — 
The winged Goddess, who sets nations free. 
[ 87 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

I am that Liberty, which when men win 
They think that others' seeking is a sin; 
I am that Liberty which men attain 
And clip her wings lest she should fly again : 
I am that Liberty which all your brothers 
Think good for them and very bad for 

others. 
Therefore they made me out of bronze, and 

hollow, 
Immovable, for fear that I might follow 
Some fresh rebellion, some new victim's 

plea; 
And so they set me on a rock at sea, 
Welded my torch securely in my hand 
Lest I should pass it on, without command. 
I am a milestone, not an inspiration; 
And if my spirit lingers in this nation. 
If it still flickers faintly o'er these waters. 
It is your spirit, my rebellious daughters. 



[88 ] 



UNAUTHORISED INTERVIEWS 



Queens and Goddesses 

Scene: Congress, during a woman suf- 
frage debate. The Congressmen are, as 
usual, moving about, talking, reading, doz- 
ing, and one, an anti-suffragist, is speaking. 

Congressman: 

I shall vote "No" on this measure, but 

I wish to say I take 
My stand for Woman's protection, for 

her own sake. 
No one honours Woman, no one respects 

her more. 
Than I do; as queen and goddess I love 

and adore 

{Suddenly in an open space in front of 
the Speaker s desk appear Pallas Athene 
and Cleopatra.) 

Cleopatra: 

Strange little man without weapons, 
what can you mean? 

Pallas : 

I, in my time, was a goddess 

[ 89 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

Cleopatra: 

And I was 
a queen. 

Pallas : 

Men knelt with gifts at my altar, gifts 

of ivory and gold, 
Bowls of bronze and of silver chased by 

the tools of old. 
No council of chiefs was held, no treaty 

or war begun 
But they prayed to me for wisdom 

Cleopatra: 

And all that I 
wished was done. 

Pallas : 

My name was spoken with reverence, 

for the mortal's breath 
That jests on the name of a goddess calls 

soon for death. 
But here one spoke of his goddess, 

likening her to a hen. 
Think you Immortals sufifer such words 

from the lips of men? 
[ 90] 



UNAUTHORISED INTERVIEWS 

Cleopatra: 
And one was talking of queens for many 

an hour, 
Till I longed to clap my hands with 

their old, old power 
And cry "Come hither, my guards, take 

this old man away. 
For his ignorant talk of queens wearies 

your queen to-day." 

Pallas {more kindly): 

If you have each a goddess, as all of 

you boast, 
Hurry and bring her here, here, where 

you need fier most. 
She must be strong and wise; while ye, 

O mortals, are weak. 
Pray that she come and save you, from 

the foolish words you speak. 
If you have each a goddess 

Congressman {recovering from his as- 
tonishment) : 

Yes, but home is her shrine. 

Pallas: 
Ah, I have seen those shrines, lovely, 
many, as mine, 

[ 91 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

But women are toiling in them, toiling 

like slaves. 
Are they your goddesses? 

Congressman {confused) : 

Yes. 

Cleopatra: 

Surely 

the old man raves! 
r know the fate of captives and slaves 

of the East: 
They must work till they die, or are 

sold like a beast. 
This man owns them by thousands. 

They toil amid wheels that grind. 
They are his slaves. 

Congressman {faintly) : 

No, queens. 

Cleopatra {angrily) : 

The man is mad or blind. 

Pallas : 

Nay, nay, Daughter of Egypt, he is 
neither blind nor mad, 

[ 92 ] 



UNAUTHORISED INTERVIEWS 

But talking as men still talk when their 

cause is bad. 
To cover an ugly truth he uses a pretty 

phrase 
As even the Gods have done in the good 

old days. 
He knows that the woman who toils for 

some one else to be rich 
Is no more a queen than the man who 

digs a ditch. 
He knows that the wife at home, whom 

he does, as he says, revere. 
Is not a goddess, or else he would seek 

her counsel here. 
He knows her merely a woman, and he 

wants no woman to share 
His power — 

Cleopatra: 

Why does he not say so? 

Pallas: 

Because he does not dare. 

Cleopatra: 
Dares not? Is he a coward? 

[ 93 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

Pallas: 

Nay, he 

fears where he ought. 
For as some men think of women they 

are wise to hide their thought. 
(She turns to Congressman.) 
Mortal, I am a goddess. Do not tremble 

and shrink. 
I read your heart about women — all that 

you wish and think. 
Base it is, and unworthy, but I strike you 

not dead at my feet. 
This is my sentence upon you — a pun- 
ishment meet — 
When you tell your thought of Woman, 

you shall tell the truth. 
How you despise her wholly — all but her 

beauty and youth. 
Henceforth when you speak of Woman, 

you shall tell all your heart. 

Congressman (terrified) : 
I must be silent forever! (A pause.) 



Pallas to Cleopatra: 

we may now depart. 
[ 94 3 



Come, Queen, 



UNAUTHORISED INTERVIEWS 

Impressions of a Canvasser 

Scene: A Certain State Capitol. 

Characters 
Suffragists. 

Half a dozen Legislators Opposed. 

Suffragists: 

Please, sir, to tell us, if you will, 
How you will vote upon our bill? 

1st Legislator: 
Ladies, observe my easy grace, 
My manners and my pleasant face; 
I hope you see I bow, I smile, 
I call you "ladies" — all the while 
My heart is black with seething hate 
That I, who am so very great, 
Should have to waste a single minute 
On your affairs — there's nothing in it. 

Suffragists (to another legislator) : 
And you, sir, if we recollect. 
Are much opposed. Is that correct? 

2nd Legislator: 

Opposed! O ladies, no, indeed! 
[ 95 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

I vote against you, I concede ; 

I may continue so to do, 

But I am not opposed to you. 

To call me so is most unjust. 

I make myself quite plain, I trust. 
Suffragists {to another legislator) : 

And may we hear from you, sir, how 

You'll vote? 
Jrd Legislator: 

I have no option now; 

I listen to my district's voice; 

It voted no ; I have no choice. 
Suffragists: 

O sir, I think there's some mistake, 

Your district carried. 
4th Legislator (hastily interrupting) : 
Let me make 

His statement clear; he means that we 

All come here absolutely free. 

Not at our districts' beck and nod. 

We vote to please ourselves and God; 

And we are not in all events 

The slaves of our constituents. 
Suffragists {slightly puzzled, to another 
legislator) : 

And you, sir, shall you vote for it? 
[ 96 ] 



UNAUTHORISED INTERVIEWS 

§th Legislator: 

No, though I think you will admit 

I have a very open mind; 

If in my district I should find 

The women want it (which they don't) , 

I'd vote for it. Till then I won't. 

Suffragists : 

And have you asked so very many? 

^th Legislator (astonished) : 

Why, no, I don't think I've asked any. 

Suffragists (to another legislator) : 
And what, sir, is your attitude? 

6th Legislator: 

I hope you will not think me rude, 

If, ladies, as a friend I say 

You do not work the proper way. 

It's time you disappeared, and let 

The public utterly forget 

That there are women wish to vote. 

Then at some future time, remote, 

In twenty years, or twenty-five. 

If you should chance to be alive, 

You'd see a change — at least you ought — 

A striking change in public thought. 

This from a friend. 

Suffragists: 

But are you so? 

[ 97 ] 



WOMEN ARE PEOPLE! 

6th Legislator: 

A friend? Oh, well, I voted "no," 
But surely you can comprehend 
That I advise you as a friend. 

(Suffragists alone.) 
1st Suffragist: 

The men in favour talk much less. 
2nd Suffragist: 

They haven't much to say but "yes" ; 

The men opposed explain a lot 

How they're opposed and yet they're not. 

It takes some time to make that clear. 
1st Suffragist: 

How very bad the air is here! 
2nd Suffragist: 

Do you refer to ventilation, 

Or to the general situation? 

(The reply is inaudible.) 



[98 ] 



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